He thought he smelled gas on the first flight of stairs, although of course that was ridiculous. But the smell was quite plain when he got into the flat. As he came up the staircase...

He watched Smethers, finding the minute signs – the clenching fingers, the nervous movement of the lips – which told him that he had won. ‘You see, Peter, when it’s a case of charges and...

‘I’m going out for a while, Pat,’ he said. ‘I’ll be about an hour, I suppose.’ ‘Don’t go out.’ It was said simply but starkly. He went towards the head of the stairs, and she...

To-night, whether or not the circumstances were favourable, must see the final break with Patricia. That thought was uppermost in his mind, but deliberately he refrained from elaborating it. It had never been a habit...

‘I like you more and more, Frank. You have co-operated with me splendidly in making this interview a success, by not saying any more than was absolutely necessary, and saying that in the right way...

‘An old man with red tabs on his uniform has just given us a most peculiar look. We should be more respectable.’ ‘You shouldn’t have your eyes open when I’m kissing you,’ he told her....

‘Then who does cope with you?’ ‘I do it myself.’ ‘No! You mustn’t. No one ever should. And I shan’t let you. Now I know all this, I shall insist on being allowed to cope...

‘The coffin was in the back bedroom, where the two of us had slept. They put my cot into their room when he got so ill. He was coffined during the afternoon, and after I...

‘You’re wrong, though. I wasn’t an only child.’ He looked up and saw her face gazing down at his, unsure and bewildered. It was strange, he thought, that this was something he had never mentioned...

She came and sat up beside him, resting against the head-board. She was wearing the dark green dress into which she generally changed on coming to the flat; it brought out the coppery red tints...